ES2794104T3 - Maximize channel capacity for common downlink channels - Google Patents

Abstract

A method (200) performed by a wireless access node (1021, 1022) to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink channel, DL, when transmitting device-related information (205, 209) to a wireless device (1042) or a group of wireless devices (1043, 1044), the method comprising: determining (202) one or more transport block formats that are to be used to transmit the information related to the device in the DL common channel to the wireless device or group of wireless devices, further characterized by the transport block format (s) requiring a number of repeated transmissions of the device-related information on the DL common channel to meet a class coverage of the wireless device or with a common coverage class for the group of wireless devices.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Maximize channel capacity for common downlink channels

Technical field

The present description relates generally to common downlink channels in wireless communication networks, and more particularly to techniques for increasing or maximizing the channel capacity of a common downlink channel using different transport block formats. on the common downlink channel to meet the coverage class needs of a specific wireless device or group of wireless devices.

Background

The following abbreviations and terms are defined below, at least some of which are mentioned in the following description of the present disclosure.

3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

AGCH Access grant channel

ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel

BLER Block error rate

BS base station

CC Coverage class

CCCH Common Control Channel

CN Core network

CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

CS Code Scheme

DL Downlink

DRX Discontinuous reception

DSP Digital Signal Processor

EDGE Enhanced data rates for GSM evolution

EGPRS Enhanced General Packet Radio Service

eNB Node B evolved

ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

GSM Global system for mobile communications

GERAN GSM / EDGE Radio Access Network

GMSK Gaussian Least Displacement Modulation

GPRS General packet radio service

HARQ Hybrid Auto-Repeat Request

LTE Long-term evolution

MTC Machine Type Communications

MS Mobile Station

PCH Radio signaling channel

PDN Packet data network

PG Radio signaling group

P-TMSI Packet temporary mobile station identity

PTCCH / D Downlink / Packet Temporalization Control Channel

RAN Radio Access Node

RACH Random Access Channel

RLC Radio Link Control

TA Time Advance

TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

TMSI Temporary mobile station identity

UE User Equipment

UL Uplink

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

WiMAX Worldwide interoperability for microwave access

In existing wireless communication networks, communication between wireless devices and wireless access nodes in the network is typically handled through the use of different logical channels. Each logical channel has its own purpose / s and is normally mapped onto a physical channel following a certain frame structure in time and frequency.

One type of logical channel on the downlink (DL) is one that is monitored by a multiplicity of wireless devices, and is also used to address a multiplicity of wireless devices (i.e. not necessarily all wireless devices monitor the channel. , but at least a subset of them) with a message sent by the wireless access node using a single radio block transmitted on the channel. This type of logical channel is referred to herein as a "DL common channel" and could include, for example, in global system for mobiles (GSM), the common control channel (CCCH).

In existing wireless communication networks, the wireless access node typically uses the same transport block format (e.g., channel coding rate and error detection capability) to transmit a message on a common DL channel independently. the type of wireless device or channel conditions applicable to any given wireless device. In particular, the wireless access node uses the same transport block format for each of the radio blocks used to send a message on the common DL channel, where the transport block format has a generic format that they can receive. all wireless devices that are addressed by the message.

For example, a possible implementation of the transport block format system would be to have the wireless access node choose a channel coding rate that is robust enough to ensure that all addressed wireless devices could correctly receive the corresponding block of signals. transmitted radio (message) with a certain minimum level of probability (i.e. regardless of the radio channel conditions experienced by any of the addressed wireless devices). In particular, to obtain a sufficiently high probability of radio block (message) reception by all addressed wireless devices, the wireless access node could use a robust transmission block coding rate in combination with repeated transmissions of that transport radio block (message).

However, configuring the transport block format wireless access node according to the worst case scenario with respect to channel conditions (for example) would typically result in a waste of radio resources. This waste of radio resources could occur, for example, when the wireless access node made repeated transmissions (that is, multiple repetitions) of a message, on a common DL channel, according to the number of repetitions that the device needed. wireless, with the worst radio channel conditions to which the message is directed, while many or all other wireless devices to which the same message is directed will only need, for example, a single transmission. This waste of radio resources and other deficiencies are addressed in the present disclosure.

Document EP 1855424 A1 describes a method and scheduling apparatus for reserving radio resources in radio resource block units in a mobile communication system for a plurality of users. NOKIA et al .: "D2D Communication without Network Coverage", Draft 3GPP; R1-133495, Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Mobile Competence Center; 650, Route Des Lucioles; F-06921 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France, vol. RAN WG1, no. Barcelona, Spain; 20130819-20130823, Aug 10, 2013, XP050716602, describes how to support D2D communication in the cases without network coverage.

NSN et al .: "Necessity on Category 0 Indication to Network before UE Capability Delivery", Draft 3GPP; R2-142474 (Low Cost Capacity Indication), Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Mobile Competence Center; 650, Des Lucioles route; F-06921 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex; France, vol. RAN WG @, no. Seoul, Corea; 20140519-20140523, May 9, 2014, XP050818520, reveals whether it is beneficial to indicate a low cost MTC capacity (EU 0 coverage) to the network.

Summary

The present invention is defined in the accompanying independent claims. A wireless access node, a wireless device and two associated and corresponding methods for addressing at least the aforementioned deficiency and other deficiencies are described in the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments of the wireless access node, the wireless device and the two associated and corresponding methods are further described in the dependent claims.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a wireless access node configured to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink (DL) channel when transmitting device-related information to a wireless device or group of devices. wireless devices. The wireless access node comprises a processor and a memory that stores instructions executable by the processor, where the processor interacts with the memory to execute the instructions executable by the processor, whereby the wireless access node can be operated to perform an operation. determined. In the determining operation, the wireless access node determines one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit the device related information on the common DL channel to the wireless device or group of wireless devices, where the transport block format (s) will satisfy a coverage class need of the wireless device or group of wireless devices. The wireless access node, by determining one or more transport block formats to be used in this way, has the advantage that it helps to maximize the use of radio resources by transmitting device-related information on the channel. downlink common, DL, to the wireless device or group of wireless devices.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method in a wireless access node to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink (DL) channel when transmitting device-related information to a wireless device or a group of wireless devices. The method comprises a determination step. In the determination step, the wireless access node determines one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit the device-related information on the common DL channel to the wireless device or group of wireless devices, in where the transport block format (s) satisfy a coverage class need of the wireless device or group of wireless devices. The method has the advantage that it helps to maximize the use of radio resources by transmitting device-related information on the common DL downlink channel to the wireless device or group of wireless devices.

In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides a wireless device configured to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink (DL) channel when device-related information is received from a wireless access node. The wireless device comprises a processor and a memory that stores executable instructions of the processor, wherein the processor interacts with the memory to execute the executable instructions of the processor, whereby the wireless device can be operated to perform a receive operation. In the operation of reception, the wireless device receives one or more messages, including device-related information on the common DL channel from the wireless access node, where one or more messages have one or more transport block formats that satisfy a need for coverage class of the wireless device. The wireless device, by adopting one or more transport block formats, in this way, has the advantage that it helps to maximize the use of radio resources by receiving device-related information on the common DL downlink channel from the wireless access node.

In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method in a wireless device to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink (DL) channel when device-related information is received from a wireless access node. The method comprises a receiving step. In the receive step, the wireless device receives one or more messages, including device-related information on the common DL channel from the wireless access node, where one or more messages have one or more transport block formats that they satisfy a need for coverage class of the wireless device. The method has the advantage that it helps to maximize the use of radio resources when device related information is received on the DL downlink common channel from the wireless access node.

Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth, in part in the detailed description, figures, and claims that follow, and in part will be derived from the detailed description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. It is to be understood that both the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as disclosed.

Brief description of the drawings

A more complete understanding of the present invention can be obtained by referring to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication network in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 2 is a flow chart of a method implemented in a wireless access node to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common DL channel when transmitting device-related information to a wireless device or group of devices. wireless devices according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating the structures of an exemplary wireless access node configured in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a method implemented in a wireless device to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common DL channel when device-related information is received from a wireless access node in accordance with a making this disclosure;

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating the structures of an exemplary wireless device configured in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating simulation results of the performance of a four-burst radio block carrying 184 bits of information compared to a one-burst radio block carrying different amounts of information bits.

Detailed description

To describe the technical characteristics of the present disclosure, a discussion is first provided to describe an exemplary wireless communication network that includes multiple wireless access nodes and multiple wireless devices, each of which is configured in accordance with the present disclosure (illustrated in figure 1). Next, a discussion is provided to explain in more detail how the wireless access node and the wireless device each implement the technical features of the present disclosure (illustrated in Figures 2-5). Finally, a discussion is provided to explain the technical characteristics of the present disclosure when applied to a GSM wireless communication network (illustrated in Figure 6).

Exemplary Wireless Communication Network 100

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary wireless communication network 100 in accordance with the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication network 100 includes multiple wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 (only two are shown), multiple wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n, and a core network 106 (for example, core network 106 EGPRS). The wireless communication network 100 includes many other components well known, but for clarity, only the components necessary to describe the technical characteristics of the present description are described here. Furthermore, the wireless communication network 100 is described herein as a GSM / EGPRS wireless communication network 100 which is also known as an EDGE wireless communication network 100. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the techniques of the present disclosure, which are applied to the GSM / EGPRS wireless communication network 100, are generally applicable to other types of wireless communication systems, including, for example, WCDMA, LTE and WiMAX systems.

Wireless communication network 100 includes wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 (only two are shown) that provide network access to wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n. In this example, the wireless access node 1021 provides network access to the wireless device 1041, while the node

1022 wireless access provides network access to wireless devices 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n. Wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 are connected to core network 106 (eg, EGPRS core network 106). Core network 106 is connected to an external packet data network (PDN) 108, such as the Internet, and to a server 110 (only one is shown). Wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n can communicate with one or more servers 110 (only one shown) connected to core network 106 or PDN 108.

Wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n can generally refer to an end terminal (user) that connects to the wireless communication network 100, and can refer to an MTC device or a non-MTC device. of MTC. Furthermore, the term "wireless device" is intended to be generally synonymous with the term "user equipment" or UE, as that term is used by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and includes standalone wireless devices such as terminals, cell phones, smartphones, tablets and personal digital assistants equipped with wireless technology, as well as wireless cards or modules that are designed to be attached to or inserted into another electronic device, such as a personal computer, an electric meter, etc.

Similarly, wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 may generally refer to a base station or central node in the wireless communication network 100, and may refer to wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 that are controlled by a network controller of physically distinct radio, as well as to more autonomous access points, such as so-called evolved Node Bs (eNBs or eNodeBs) in long-term evolution networks (LTE). Consequently, the term "wireless access node" can also refer to radio network controllers (RNC) and NodeB (NB) in 3G, or base station controllers (BSC) or base transceiver stations (BTS) in 2G.

Each wireless device 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n may include a transceiver circuit 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104 ... 110n for communicating with wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022, and a processing circuit

1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 ... 112n to process signals transmitted and received by the transceiver circuit 1101, 1102,

1103, 1104 ... 110n and to control the operation of the corresponding wireless device 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... .104n. The transceiver circuit 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104 ... 110n may include a transmitter 1141, 1142, 1143, 1144 ...

114n and a receiver 1161, 1162, 1163, 1164 ... 116n, which can operate according to any standard, for example the GSM / EDGE standard. The processing circuit 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124 ... 112n may include a processor 1181, 1182, 1183, 1184 ... 118n and a memory 1201, 1202, 1203, 1204 ... 120n for storing programs to control the operation of the corresponding wireless device 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n.

The program code may include code to perform the procedures (for example, identify a transport block format from among multiple transport block formats included in a common downlink channel; determine values for properties of a transport block format). transport; receive common information for multiple wireless devices; receive device-specific information; and identify, from a transport block format, information that allows unique identification of common information corresponding to device-specific information) as described below.

Each wireless access node 1021 and 1022 may include a transceiver circuit 1221 and 1222 to communicate with wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n, a processing circuit 1241 and 1242 to process signals transmitted and received on the circuit. transceiver 1221 and 1222 and to control the operation of the corresponding wireless access node 1021 and 1022, and a network interface 1261 and 1262 to communicate with the core network 106 (for example, through core network nodes such as GPRS support nodes of service (SGSN) in GPRS or mobility management entity (MME) in LTE). The transceiver circuit 1221 and 1222 may include a transmitter 1281 and 1282 and a receiver 1301 and 1302, which may operate in accordance with any standard, for example, the GSM / EDGE standard. Processing circuitry 1241 and 1242 may include processor 1321 and 1322 and memory 1341 and 1342 for storing program code to control the operation of the corresponding wireless access node 1021 and 1022. The program code may include code to perform the procedures (for example, determine the coverage class for one or more wireless devices; determine the respective values for properties of different transport block formats; determine different transport block formats for include in a common downlink channel; format a common downlink channel to include different transport block formats; identify / extract / send common information to multiple wireless devices; identify / extract / send specific wireless device information; add or format transport block formats to include information that allows each of the multiple wireless devices to uniquely identify which common information corresponds to its specific device information; and determining a number of repetitions to transmit information to a particular wireless device or group of wireless devices) as described below.

Technical characteristics of the current disclosure

In the present disclosure, a scenario of interest is one in which N wireless devices 1042, 1043, 1044 (for example) perform procedures during which they attempt to read information (for example, messages) on the DL of a common DL channel within of the same time interval. It is proposed herein that the wireless access node 1022 (for example) determine and use / adopt different transport block formats on a common DL control channel to meet the need for each specific user's coverage class ( e.g. 1042 wireless device) or a group of users (e.g. 1043 and 1044 wireless devices with the same coverage class) trying to read messages on the common DL control channel using the different transport block formats determined, thereby improving the bandwidth utilization efficiency on the DL common control channel compared to the case where the wireless access node simply assumes that the wireless devices are in the worst coverage class when using / they adopt transport block formats.

The term "transport block format" used herein refers to the way in which device-related information (eg, messages) is transmitted on the common DL channel, including, but not limited to :

• the number of payload bits (ie, message information bits) per transport block;

• the type of transport block modulation;

• the coding rate of the transport block, which affects the number of payload bits per transport block;

• the duration of the transport block (ie the time interval covered by the transmitted block); and

• if repeats are used to achieve a lower transport block encoding rate (ie allowing more payload bits per transport block), the number of transport block repetitions of a predefined format.

The term "coverage class" as used herein can be defined as follows: the coverage class of any given wireless device is essentially a measure of its current radio environment such that a wireless device in the worst class coverage supported by the network will need to use the most robust transport block format to help ensure that the wireless device remains operational. In contrast, wireless devices in the best coverage class will remain operational when the less robust transport block format is used. Additional transport block formats can be used for wireless devices that experience worse radio conditions than wireless devices in the best coverage class. At any given time, a wireless device belongs to a specific coverage class that determines the total number of blind transmissions that will be used when receiving radio blocks. A coverage class applicable at any time may differ between different logical channels. When initiating an access to the system, a wireless access node determines the coverage class applicable to the RACH / AGCH based on the estimate of the number of blind repetitions of a radio block that the receiver of the wireless device needs to experience a BLER (speed block error) of approximately 10% The wireless access node determines the coverage class to be used by a wireless device in its allocated packet channel resources based on the estimate of the number of blind repeats of a radio block needed to satisfy a target BLER and considering the number of HARQ retransmissions (of a radio block) that, on average, will result from using that target BLER.

Furthermore, in accordance with an alternative technical feature of the present disclosure, if a message normally sent on the common DL channel includes information common to a multiplicity of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example) that monitor that channel and are directed on that channel same message, it is proposed that the wireless access node 1022 may use the following alternative approach (for example) to deliver the message content to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example): •

• extract the common information 213 that is applicable to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example) from the information 209 related to the device and transmit the common information 213 included in a message 215 using a transport block format that all wireless devices 1043 and 1044 targeted (for example) can decode;

• extract device-specific information 217a and 217b from device-related information 209 and transmit device-specific information 217a and 217b included in messages 219a and 219b, respectively, using a transport block format applicable to only that device respective wireless 1043 or 1044 (for example); and

• include information 221 in each transport block (message 219a and 219b) that includes device-specific information 217a and 217b and in the transport block (s) (message (s) 215) include common information 213 that allows each wireless device 1043 and 1044 (for example) uniquely identify the transport block (s) (message / s 215) including the common information 213 that corresponds to the transport block (message 219a and 219b) including its device-specific information .

The use of this alternative technical feature of sending information to N wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example) on a common DL channel allows the use of fewer radio resources compared to what would be required without such separation of information related to the device.

The following are some advantages associated with the use of the first technical feature (one embodiment) and the alternative technical feature (alternative embodiment) of the present disclosure:

• Efficient use of DL common channel in wireless communication network 100.

• Greater number of addressable wireless devices on the same common DL channel per unit of time.

• Ensuring block error rate (BLER) performance similar to that of a CS-1 legacy encoding scheme encoded radio block for information received using the new transport block formats.

• Improved wireless device power saving when receiving information addressed to the wireless device on DL common channel.

The technical characteristics of the present disclosure help exploit these advantages in a number of ways, as described in the following examples:

(a) Optimal use of resources: as each case of information transmission consumes some available radio resources (for example, time slot and frequency), transmitting the necessary information using more radio resources than necessary is a waste of these scarce radio resources. As such, transmitting the necessary information using transport blocks (messages) appropriate to the device according to the present disclosure is a preferred form of information transmission. This can be done, for example, by introducing transport blocks (messages) that have a reduced number of information bits (i.e. payload) per burst compared to the legacy operation, where for the inherited operation the The amount of information bits per burst is determined based on the assumption that multiple instances of these bursts will repeat and potentially include information that targets multiple devices. If instead the transport blocks (messages) are performed using a single burst (which may be sufficient for cases where a small volume of payload information needs to be sent to a given wireless device) with the intention that the information carried there is directed only to a single wireless device, then a better use of the resources of the common DL control channel and the improvement of the capacity is possible. This will be especially true for systems where transport (message) block repeats range from a single repeat for wireless devices in the best coverage class to X repeats (for example 16) for wireless devices in the worst coverage class. coverage.

(b) Wireless device power saving: The techniques described provide a clear advantage of wireless device power saving. To receive a transport block in GSM, which is known as a radio block and is transmitted through four bursts (spread over four time division multiple access (TDMA) frames, each of which consists of eight slots time), a wireless device will typically consume: Vcc * Iavg * T = (3.3 V) * (50,000 pA) * (4 * 577 ps) (3.3V) * (1000 pA) * (28 * 577 ps) = 434.13 pJ. Whereas, to receive a transport block that is transmitted through a single burst, a wireless device will typically consume: Vcc * Iavg * T = (3.3 V) * (50,000 pA) * (4 * 577 ps) ( 3.3V) * (1000 pA) * (28 * 577 ps) = 434.13 pJ. Therefore, the energy saving ratio per transport block will be approximately 4: 1.

The term "radio block" is used herein and can be defined as follows: a message is sent using one or more radio blocks where each radio block can be transmitted using multiple repetitions in the physical layer (for For example, a legacy RLC data block is a radio block sent using four bursts). One or more radio blocks are used to send a message in which each radio block in the set uses the same transport block format (for example, the same modulation scheme, the same channel coding scheme, and the same number repeats per radius block). Radio resources are shared, but typically used to send a message to one wireless device at a time by including unique information in each radio block header to indicate the desired wireless device. Without However, the concept of group messages also exists when the information in each radio block header indicates the group of wireless devices for which the message is intended. The case where multiple messages (each message sent using a set of one or more radio blocks) are directed to different wireless devices using the concept of group messages is possible, but not very typical, that is, the most typical concept it involves sending a single message to a single wireless device or a group of wireless devices using a corresponding set of radio blocks.

Referring to Figure 2, there is a flow chart of a method 200 implemented in a wireless access node 1022 (for example) to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common DL channel when transmitting information related to the device to a wireless device 1042 (for example) or a group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example) in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 202, wireless access node 1022 determines one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit device related information on the common DL channel to wireless device 1042 or group of wireless devices 1043. and 1044, in which one or more transport block formats satisfy a coverage class need of wireless device 1042 or group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example, wireless devices 1043 and 1044 have the same coverage class ).

In one embodiment, wireless access node 1022 has device-related information 205 for wireless device 1042. In this case, wireless access node 1022 at step 204 transmits a message 207, which includes information 205 related to the device. device to wireless device 1042 using one of the one or more transport block formats specifically determined based on, at least in part, the coverage class need of wireless device 1042 (illustrated in FIG. 1). As an example, if wireless device 1042 has a coverage class of "1", then wireless access node 1022 would determine the transport block format to be used specifically for wireless device 1042, which has a specific number of payload bits, a modulation type, a coding rate, a duration, etc., and lacks repetitions based at least in part on coverage class "1" (eg, coverage class "1" corresponds to to an initial transmission and without repetitions). Wireless access node 1022 then transmits message 207 including device-related information 205 to wireless device 1042 using the determined transport block format (illustrated in FIG. 1).

In the same embodiment, the wireless access node 1022 has device-related information 209 for the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044. In this case, the wireless access node 1022 at step 204 transmits a message 211, which includes the information 209 related to the device, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 using one of the one or more transport block formats specifically determined based, at least in part, on the need for coverage class of the device group Wireless 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in Figure 1). As an example, if wireless device group 1043 and 1044 has a coverage class of "2", then wireless access node 1022 would determine the transport block format to be used specifically for wireless device group 1043 and 1044 that has a specific number of payload bits, a modulation type, an encoding rate, a duration, etc., and a repetition based at least in part on coverage class "2" (for example, class coverage "2" corresponds to an initial transmission and a repetition) The wireless access node 1022 then transmits the message 211 that includes the information 209 related to the device to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 using the determined transport block format (illustrated in figure 1).

In an alternate embodiment, wireless access node 1022 has device-related information 209 for group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, and wireless access node 1022, instead of performing step 204, could perform steps 206 , 208, 210, 212, and 214. More specifically, in this alternate embodiment, the wireless access node 1022 at step 202 determines a plurality of transport block formats to be used to transmit the device-related information 209 , on the DL common channel, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044. The wireless access node 1022 in step 206 would identify the common information 213 included in the information 209 related to the device applicable to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 , and would transmit in step 208 a message 215 that includes the common information 213 to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 that use a format or from among the plurality of transport block formats that is decodable by the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in Figure 1). Additionally, the wireless access node 1022 would identify, at step 210, device-specific information 217a and 217b included in the device-related information 209, applicable to each individual wireless device 1043 and 1044 in the wireless device group 1043 and 1044. , and would transmit in step 212 individual messages 219a and 219b including device-specific information 217a and 217b to the respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044 using more than one format among the plurality of transport block formats that are applicable to the respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in Figure 1). Note that the transport block format used to transmit message 215, which includes common information 213, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 may be the same or different from at least one of the transport block formats used to transmit the individual messages 219a and 219b, including device-specific information 217a and 217b, to the respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044. If desired, the wireless access node 1022 may add, in at step 214, information 221 in message 215, including common information 213, and in each of individual messages 219a and 219b, including device-specific information 217a and 217b that allows each of the individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044 uniquely identifies message 215, which includes common information 213 that corresponds to its respective individual message 219a and 219b, which includes device-specific information 217a and 217b.

As an example, if the wireless devices 1043 and 1044 each have a coverage class of "2", then the wireless access node 1022 would determine the transport block format, which is to be used specifically for the wireless devices 1043 and 1044. , which has a number of payload bits for common information 213, a modulation type, a coding rate, a duration, etc. and a replay based at least in part on coverage class "2" (for example, coverage class "2" corresponds to an initial transmission and a replay). In addition, the wireless access node 1022 would determine the transport block format to be used specifically for the wireless device 1043 that has a specific number of payload bits for device-specific information 217a, a modulation type, a encoding speed, a duration, etc. and a repetition based at least in part on coverage class "2". In addition, the wireless access node 1022 would determine the transport block format to be used specifically for the wireless device 1044, which has a specific number of payload bits for device-specific information 217b, a type of modulation, an encoding speed, a duration, etc. and a repeat based at least in part on coverage class "2". Wireless access node 1022 then transmits message 215 including common information 213 (possibly including added information 221) to wireless devices 1043 and 1044 using the specially determined transport block format (illustrated in FIG. 1). Additionally, the wireless access node 1022 would transmit the message 219a including the device-specific information 217a (possibly including the appended information 221) to the wireless device 1043 using the specially determined transport block format (illustrated in FIG. 1). Note that the transport block formats used to transmit messages 215 and 219a may be the same or different. Finally, the wireless access node 1022 would transmit the message 219b including the device-specific information 217b (possibly including the added information 221) to the wireless device 1044 using the specially determined transport block format (illustrated in FIG. 1). Note that the transport block formats used to transmit messages 215 and 219b can be the same or different.

Referring to Figure 3, there is a block diagram illustrating the structures of an exemplary wireless access node 1022 (for example), to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common DL channel, when transmitting information relating to the device, to a wireless device 1042 (for example) or to a group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example) in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless access node 1022 may comprise a determination module 302, a first transmission module 304, a first identification module 306, a second transmission module 308, a second identification module 310, a third transmission module 312, and a add-on module 314. Determine module 302 is configured to determine one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit device-related information on the common DL channel to wireless device 1042 or group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, where the transport block format (s) satisfy the coverage class need of the wireless device 1042 or group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044. In one embodiment, if the wireless access node 1022 has information 205 related to the device for the wireless device 1042, then the first transmit module 304 is configured to to transmit a message 207, including device-related information 205, to wireless device 1042, using one or more transport block formats specifically determined based on, at least in part, the need for coverage class of the wireless device 1042 (illustrated in Figure 1). In the same embodiment, if the wireless access node 1022 has device-related information 209 for the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (for example, having the same coverage class), then the first transmission module 304 is configured to transmit a message 211, including device-related information 209, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, using one of the one or more transport block formats specifically determined based on, at least in part, the Coverage class need of wireless device group 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in Figure 1).

Determination module 302 may determine a plurality of transport block formats to be used to transmit device-related information 209 on the common DL channel to group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044. In an alternative embodiment, if the wireless access node 1022 has device related information 209 for the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, then the first identification module 306 is configured to identify common information 213 included in the device related information 209 for the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, and the second transmission module 308 is configured to transmit a message 215, which includes the common information 213, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044 using one of the plurality of transport block formats which can be decoded by wireless device group 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in Figure 1) Additionally, the second identification module 310 is configured to identify device-specific information 217a and 217b included in the device-related information 209 applicable to each device. individual wireless 1043 and 1044 in the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, and the third transmission module 312 is configured to transmit individual messages 219a and 219b, including device-specific information 217a and 217b, to the respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044, using more than one format among the plurality of transport block formats that are applicable to the respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044 (illustrated in FIG. 1). Note that the transport block format used to transmit message 215, which includes common information 213, to the group of wireless devices 1043 and 1044, may be the same or different from the transport block formats used to transmit the individual messages. 219a and 219b, which include device-specific information 217a and 217b, to respective individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044. Add-on module 314 is configured to add information 221 to message 215, which includes common information 213, and to each one of individual messages 219a and 219b, which include device-specific information 217a and 217b that allows each of the individual wireless devices 1043 and 1044 to uniquely identify message 215, which includes common information 213 that corresponds to its respective individual message 219a and 219b, including device-specific information 217a and 217b.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, modules 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312, and 314, of wireless access node 1022, described above, can be separately implemented as suitable dedicated circuits. In addition, modules 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312 and 314 can also be implemented using any number of dedicated circuits through functional combination or separation. In some embodiments, modules 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312, and 314 can even be combined into a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). As an alternative computer software (software) -based implementation, wireless access node 1022 may comprise memory 1342, processor 1322 (including, but not limited to, a microprocessor, microcontroller, or digital signal processor ( DSP), etc.) and a transmitter 1282. Memory 1342 stores machine-readable program code executable by processor 1322 that causes wireless access node 1022 to perform the steps of method 200 described above. Note that wireless access nodes 1021 and 1022 and other wireless access nodes can be configured to implement the method 200 described above.

Referring to Figure 4, there is a flow chart of a method 400 implemented in a wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) to improve the efficiency of bandwidth utilization on a common DL channel when receiving information. related to the device from a wireless access node 1022 (for example) in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. At step 402, wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 receives one or more messages 207, 211, 215, 219a, and 219b that include device-related information on the DL common channel from wireless access node 1022, where The message (s) 207, 211, 215, 219a, and 219b have one or more transport block formats that satisfy a coverage class need of the wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044. In one embodiment, the wireless device 1042 receives at the step 402a the device-related information 205 included in message 207 having a transport block format based at least in part on the coverage class of the wireless device 1042. In the same embodiment, the wireless device 1043 receives in step 402a the device related information 209 included in message 211 having a transport block format based at least in part on the coverage class of wireless device 1 043.

At step 402, the wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 may receive a plurality of messages that include the device-related information, where the plurality of messages have a plurality of transport block formats. In an alternate embodiment, the wireless device 1043 receives, in step 402b, the common information 213 included in the message 215, which has one of the plurality of transport block formats based at least in part on the coverage class from the wireless device 1043. In addition, the wireless device 1043 receives, in step 402c, the device-specific information 217a included in the message 219a, which has one of the plurality of transport block formats based, at least in part , in the coverage class of the wireless device 1043. Note that the transport block formats used for messages 215 and 219a may be the same or different. Additionally, wireless device 1043, at step 402d, identifies information 221 in message 215, which includes common information 213, and in message 219a, which includes device-specific information 217a that allows wireless device 1043 to identify uniquely message 215, which includes common information 213, corresponding to message 219a which includes device-specific information 217a. In one embodiment, wireless devices 1044 receive, in step 402a, device-related information 209 included in message 211, which has a transport block format based at least in part on the coverage class of wireless device 1044. In an alternative embodiment, the wireless device 1044 receives, in step 402b, the common information 213 included in the message 215 that has one of the plurality of transport block formats based at least in part on the coverage class from the wireless device 1044. In addition, the wireless device 1044 receives, in step 402c, the device-specific information 217b, included in the message 219b, which has one of the plurality of transport block formats based on, at least part, in the coverage class of the wireless device 1044. Note that the transport block formats used for messages 215 and 219b may be the same or different. Additionally, at step 402d, wireless device 1044 identifies information 221 in message 215, which includes common information 213, and in message 219b, which includes device-specific information 217b that allows the device to Wireless 1044 uniquely identifies message 215, which includes common information 213 that corresponds to message 219b, which includes device-specific information 217b.

Referring to Figure 5, there is a block diagram illustrating the structures of an exemplary wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common DL channel when receiving information. device related from wireless access node 1022 (for example) in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. Wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) may comprise a receiving module 502, a first receiving module 502a, a second receiving module 502b, a third receiving module 502c, and an identification module 502d. The receiving module 502 is configured to receive one or more messages 207, 211, 215, 219a, and 219b, including device-related information on the common DL channel from the wireless access node 1022, where the message (s) 207 , 211, 215, 219a, and 219b have one or more transport block formats that satisfy a coverage class need of the wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044. In one embodiment, the wireless device 1042 comprises the first receive module 502a, that is configured to receive device-related information 205 included in message 207, that has a transport block format based at least in part on the coverage class of wireless device 1042. In one embodiment, wireless device 1043 comprises the first receiving module 502a, which is configured to receive the device-related information 209 included in the message 211, which has a format of b Transport block based at least in part on the coverage class of the 1043 wireless device.

The receiving module 502 may receive a plurality of messages that include the device-related information, where the plurality of messages has a plurality of transport block formats. In an alternative embodiment, wireless device 1043 comprises second receiving module 502b, which is configured to receive common information 213 included in message 215, having one of the plurality of transport block formats based on at least part in the coverage class of the wireless device 1043. In addition, the wireless device 1043 comprises the third receiving module 502c, which is configured to receive the device-specific information 217a included in the message 219a, which has one of the plurality of formats of transport block formats based at least in part on the coverage class of wireless device 1043. It should be noted that the transport block formats used for messages 215 and 219a may be the same or different. Additionally, wireless device 1043 comprises identification module 502d that is configured to identify information 221 in message 215, which includes common information 213, and in message 219a, which includes device-specific information 217a that allows the wireless device 1043 uniquely identifies message 215, which includes common information 213 that corresponds in message 219a to device-specific information 217a.

In one embodiment, wireless device 1044 comprises first receiving module 502a that is configured to receive device-related information 209 included in message 211, having a transport block format based at least in part on the class of coverage of the wireless device 1043. In an alternate embodiment, the wireless device 1044 comprises the second receiving module 502b that is configured to receive the common information 213 included in the message 215, which has a format among the plurality of block formats of transport based at least in part on the coverage class of wireless device 1044. Additionally, wireless device 1044 comprises third receiving module 502c that is configured to receive device-specific information 217b included in message 219b, which has a format out of the plurality of transport block formats based at least in part in the coverage class of the wireless device 1044. It should be noted that the transport block formats used for messages 215 and 219b may be the same or different. Additionally, wireless device 1044 comprises identification module 502d, which is configured to identify information 221 in message 215, which includes common information 213, and in message 219b, which includes device-specific information 217b that enables wireless device 1044 uniquely identifies message 215, which includes common information 213 that corresponds in message 219b to device-specific information 217b.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, modules 502, 502a, 502b, 502c, and 502d described above of wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) can be separately implanted as suitable dedicated circuits. Additionally, modules 502, 502a, 502b, 502c, and 502d can also be implemented using any number of dedicated circuitry through functional separation or combination. In some embodiments, modules 502, 502a, 502b, 502c, and 502d can even be combined into a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). As an alternative software-based implementation, the wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) may comprise memory 1202, 1203, and 1204, a processor 1182, 1183, and 1184 (including, but not limited to, a microprocessor, a microcontroller or digital signal processor (DSP), etc.) and a receiver 1162, 1163, and 1164. Memory 1202, 1203, and 1204 stores machine-readable program code executable by processor 1182, 1183, and 1184 that makes Have wireless device 1042, 1043, or 1044 (for example) perform the steps in method 400 described above. It should be noted that wireless devices 1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n and other wireless devices can be configured to implement the method 400 described above.

Application to GSM wireless communication network

1. Radio signaling channel ( PCH)

In one embodiment, the above techniques are applied to the GSM wireless communication network and the PCH channel, part of the CCCH in the DL. The current TCP can carry at most information related to radio signaling to four addressed wireless devices within a TCP message. The default transport block format used by GSM today to send PCH messages is known as radio block, which contains 23 octets of payload space (mapped to 456 bits after addition and verification encoding of cyclic redundancy (CRC)). A radio block consists of four normal bursts, each of which occupies a time slot in the TDMA frame structure in GSM. Furthermore, the transport block format consists of using Gaussian least shift keying (GMSK) and a code rate provided by the CS-1 coding scheme to transport information to wireless devices.

In the following discussion, it is assumed that the changes in the legacy transport block format, necessary for the new proposed transport block format, in accordance with the present disclosure, involve: 1. Reducing the duration of a radio block from four bursts to just a single burst radius block.

2. Reduction of payload information per transport block. Different mechanisms can be used to reduce the size of TCP messages. For example, the 'identity type' in a radio signaling message may be set to a Packet Temporary Mobile Station Identity (P-TMSI). Since the temporary mobile station identity (TMSI) is only 32 bits, only 32 bits will be needed in the mobile identity information element field (eg 'MS identity' in the radio signaling message) to address the MS using P-TMSI. Thus, the use of P-TMSI will help reduce the total amount of information bits that must be carried within the transport block.

3. Allow a variable number of transport block repetitions to reflect the specific radio channel conditions for each of the N wireless devices to be radio-signaled. It should be noted that it is possible to adapt the number of transport block repetitions dynamically, for example, according to the quality of the device-specific radio channel (for example, detected or based on current device-specific received feedback) or of according to a fixed coverage class associated with a given wireless device.

2. TCP example

The following transport block format properties are assumed to be the same for this example as for the current (that is, legacy) PCH:

1. The modulation used (ie the GMSK)

2. The code rate used (ie about 1/2). A one-burst radio block and a four-burst radio block of approximately the same code rate are assumed to provide approximately the same performance. This is supported by the simulation results illustrated in the graph shown in Figure 6, where the performance of a four-burst radio block carrying 184 bits of information is compared to a one-burst radio block carrying different amounts of bits of information. Results were simulated on a slow, skip-free channel with a Doppler spread of around 1 Hz.

Also, the four multiplexed users (wireless devices) in the current TCP block are assumed to need 1, 4, 8, and 2 repetitions, respectively, for user 1,2, 3, and 4.

Consequently, the current TCP consisting of 4 bursts per transmitted radio block has to be transmitted 8 times to ensure decoding (i.e., receiving performance) of user 3 (i.e., the user with the worst channel conditions of the broadcast). radio, in this example), and therefore a total of 8 * 4 = 32 normal bursts need to be transmitted. If instead the above modulation and code rate are followed, but within the context of the new device specific transport block format techniques described in the present disclosure, then the same information could be carried with 1 + 4 + 8 + 2 = 15 bursts. Consequently, a bandwidth reduction of 53% is achieved.

More detailed simulations have also been carried out in which it is assumed that the probability that a wireless device that needs extended coverage (that is, more than a single repetition) will be 20%, and, within that 20%, the amount of repetitions needed for different levels of extended coverage is:

• 10%: 2 transmissions

• 5%: 4 transmissions

• 3%: 8 transmissions

• 2%: 16 transmissions

In the case of using the disclosed techniques proposed in this disclosure, the average resource utilization is: (0.8 * 1 burst) [(0.1 * 2 bursts) (0.05 * 4 bursts) (0.03 * 8 bursts) (0.02 * 16 bursts)] = 1.76 bursts. However, if the multiplexing of four users (wireless devices) in the same radio signaling block is assumed according to the current operation (that is, that the broadcast control channel (BCCH) does not try to address wireless devices of the same coverage class or the like within the same radio signaling block), then the corresponding resource utilization, when using the current 4-burst TCP block, is 3.7 bursts. Although users (wireless devices) that need 16 repeats are rare in the system, these users, when paired with three other users on the same block, will likely pair with users that need only one repeat. For those users who only need a single repeat, the number of repeats used is a huge waste of radio resources. In this example, the bandwidth savings with the new transport block formats of the present disclosure is around 53%.

The use of the new transport block formats in accordance with the present disclosure will effectively generate a quadrupling of the number of radio signaling groups associated with any given coverage class for any given discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, as repetitions are they will perform at the burst level rather than at the radio block level. For example, a wireless device that needs eight repetitions and uses a DRX cycle of approximately one minute will result in the following:

• DRX cycle = 256 51-multiframes ~ 60 seconds (208 DRX cycles within total frame number (FN) space).

• TCP blocks (4 bursts each) per DRX cycle = PB_DRX_CICLO = 256 * 8 = 2048.

• Groups of radio signaling per DRX cycle = PG_DRX_CICLO = (PB_DRX_CICLO * 4) / 8 = 1024.

• No inherent difficulties are seen to arise from the perspective of a radio signaling group when using the new burst-based transport block format described herein.

3. Management of common information in the PCH

PCH messages currently contain information common to all wireless devices, including the set of N wireless devices to be radio-signaled within that PCH message (for example, implicit rejection information and information from the Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) )) as well as device specific information (eg MS identification such as P-TMSI). If the common information is not sent separately from the device-specific information, then together your payload space could be large enough to require a reduced channel encoding rate for the transport blocks used to send them, and, hence, resulting in reduced BLER throughput for these transport blocks, as illustrated in Figure 6. As such, from a transport block BLER perspective, it can be beneficial if the common information is sent using blocks transport blocks separate from the transport blocks used to send the N instances of device-specific information as described in the present disclosure. This can be done, for example, using one or more of the technical features of the present disclosure as follows:

• Identify the common information applicable to a set of N wireless devices that need to be radio-signaled and send the common information using a transport block format that all N devices can decode;

• Send each of the N instances of device-specific information using an applicable transport block format. The device-specific information could also include, for example, an indicator indicating whether the wireless device still needs to acquire common information, as the common information could be semi-static and therefore may not have changed since the last time the common information was read by the wireless device; and

• Include information in each of the transport block formats used to send the device-specific information and in the transport block format used to send the common information that allows each of the N wireless devices to uniquely identify what Common information corresponds to your device-specific information.

Using the previous example where four users (wireless devices) must be radio-signaled and need respectively 1, 4, 8 and 2 repetitions, there will be 15 transport blocks that include device-specific information and 8 transport blocks that include common information, where the 23 transport blocks (bursts) maintain payload space specific transport block BLER performance, as illustrated in Figure 6. This is still a big improvement (i.e. 28% fewer bursts needed) compared to the 32 bursts that would have to be transmitted using the legacy transport block format, where each TCP block consists of 4 bursts and is repeated 8 times.

3.1 TCP resource management

In today's GSM wireless communication network, the base station (BS) needs to send valid layer 3 messages continuously on all radio signaling subchannels on the CCCH. However, when wireless devices of different coverage classes monitor the same physical resource for Layer 3 messages, it could turn out that wireless device B of one device class experiences better coverage than the corresponding class for wireless device A (i.e. i.e. implying that, for example, fewer repetitions are needed to reach wireless device B) a layer 3 message is sent using one or more radio blocks including radio block / s from the radio signaling group of wireless device A. Although these radio signaling messages will not include a layer 3 message that goes to wireless device A, it is interesting that wireless device A decodes the radio block sent from the BS to get confirmation that wireless device A is still connected to a appropriate cell and that Wireless Device A is still monitoring the CCCH cor straight. However, wireless device A will not be able to correctly decode the radio block unless the radio block is transmitted using a sufficiently high number of repetitions.

3.2 Overload control management using PCH resources

Additionally, wireless devices may need to be subject to an overload control mechanism, for example, the legacy implicit reject feature, where wireless devices first need to read a PCH / Access Grant Channel (AGCH) message ( sent to any wireless device) to obtain access permission information prior to attempting access to the system.

When sending information on a CCCH, the network takes into account the wireless devices associated with the highest coverage class (requiring, for example, 16 repetitions) as these wireless devices may be monitoring the channel. This can be achieved by ensuring a certain minimum periodicity with which this information is sent (eg overload control, valid Layer 3 header) using the necessary transport formats for these wireless devices. For example, the network may periodically send implicit rejection information as common information using an appropriate transport block format for 16 repetitions regardless of whether or not the network needs to send information to any specific high coverage wireless device at the time.

4. Access grant channel ( AGCH)

Support for the new transport block formats used to send messages on the AGCH, according to the present disclosure, can be done in the same way as described above for PCH messages, since the same performance of dependent BLER applies. payload volume as illustrated in Figure 6. The difference may be that the volume of common information associated with an AGCH message sent using legacy procedures is expected to be significantly greater than for a PCH message. As such, for the case of AGCH, it can be an even greater incentive to send common information (that is, information applicable to a set of N wireless devices searching for an AGCH message) using a transport block format than all devices. wireless N can decode according to the present disclosure.

5. Packet Temporary Arrangement Control Channel / Downlink ( PTCCH / D)

In one embodiment, the foregoing techniques of the present description can be applied to the PTCCH / D channel, which is used to support the time-arrangement (TA) continuous advance procedure in GSM for all wireless devices (MS) in transfer mode. of packets, as described in the 3GPP TS 45.010 VI 1.0.0 specification, document titled "GSM / EDGE Radio Access Network of the Technical Specifications Group; Radio Subsystem Synchronization (Version 11)".

The PTCCH / D can carry a maximum of eight bits of TA related information to 16 wireless devices (users) managed by the same radio block. The default transport block format used by GSM today is to transmit the PTCCH / D over a radio block consisting of four normal bursts, each of which occupies a time slot evenly distributed over two multiple frames of 52. The transport block format is to use GMSK modulation and a code rate provided by the CS-1 encoding scheme to convey the information to the receiver of the wireless device.

However, according to the present disclosure, the duration of the PTCCH / D transmission is reduced from a four-burst radio block to a single-burst radio block. In single burst format, at least four wireless devices (users) using eight bits of TA information can be addressed. For four bursts, the number of addressed wireless devices (users) is at least 16, as it is today.

In another embodiment of the present description, up to six users using eight bits of TA information per burst can be supported, with the same code rate as at present (i.e., as defined by the CS-1 encoding scheme). . The simulation results illustrated in Figure 6 for PCH are also applicable to PTCCH / D.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, in which less than eight bits of TA information are transmitted per wireless device (user), the code rate can be made more robust than the CS-1 coding scheme to improve the performance of the level. link, and / or to reduce the number of repetitions required in an extended coverage scenario. Alternatively, the number of wireless devices (users) supported by a single burst can be extended beyond six.

In yet another embodiment of the present description, the number of repetitions for the single burst format used in an extended coverage scenario is adapted, for example, according to the need of the wireless devices (users) directed in the burst format. only. Clusters of wireless devices (users) with similar or equal coverage class needs will minimize the total number of burst transmissions in the continuous TA procedure.

In contrast to the PTCCH / D block multiplexing scheme used today, where each wireless device assigned to the same physical channel (i.e. where the PTCCH / D is mapped) monitors each PTCCH / D block on that channel, The PTCCH / D channel, when mixing wireless devices (users) of different coverage classes, will have to be assigned in such a way that the wireless devices know or can determine which radio resources are applicable and how often the radio resources should be read .

An alternative approach to performing PTCCH / D for extended coverage in accordance with the present disclosure is to provide a TA information update interval, for example, in accordance with the worst coverage class wireless devices. In one example, the worst coverage class needs 16 repetitions. In this case, each PTCCH block (targeting all wireless devices based on current operation) can only change the TA information every 16th PTCCH / D block interval.

One scenario addressed by the present disclosure is where N wireless devices perform procedures during which the N wireless devices try to read information (e.g. messages) on the DL of a common channel within the same time interval and the network introduces new ones. transport block formats in the DL of a common channel to send the information of the N wireless devices (for example, messages) in a way that meets the specific needs of the coverage class of these N wireless devices, and that gives as The result is the ability to make significantly improved utilization of the available bandwidth on the common DL channel compared to the case where wireless devices are simply assumed to be in the worst coverage class. Furthermore, another scenario discussed in this document considers the case where information that is common to all wireless N devices is identified and sent using transport blocks that are separate from the transport blocks used to send device-specific information, allowing the use of fewer radio resources compared to what would be required without such information separation. Finally, improved power savings can be achieved for wireless devices reading the common channel, as the use of these new transport formats results in fewer bursts being read and processed, especially for wireless devices in the best class coverage (for example, coverage class 1, where only a single initial transmission / reception is needed).

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the use of the term "exemplary" is used herein to mean "illustrative" or "serving as an example", and is not intended to imply that one particular embodiment is preferred over another. Similarly, the terms "first" and "second", and similar terms, are used simply to distinguish one particular case of one element or characteristic from another, and do not indicate a particular order or arrangement, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, the term "step", as used herein, is intended to be synonymous with "operation" or "action". Any description here of a sequence of steps does not imply that these operations must be carried out in a particular order, or even that these operations are carried out in no order, unless the context or details of the described operation clearly indicate so. contrary.

Of course, the present disclosure may be carried out in other specific ways than those set forth herein without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims. One or more of the specific processes discussed above may be carried out on a cellular phone or other communications transceiver comprising one or more appropriately configured processing circuits, which in some embodiments may be incorporated into one or more application-specific integrated circuits. (SO C). In some embodiments, these processing circuits may comprise one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers and / or digital signal processors programmed with the appropriate computer software and / or firmware to carry out one or more more of the operations described above, or variants thereof. In some embodiments, these processing circuits may comprise custom computer hardware (hardware) to perform one or more of the functions described above. Therefore, the present embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Although multiple embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the detailed description above, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is instead capable of being performed. through numerous new arrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

Claims (19)

1. A method (200) performed by a wireless access node (102i, 1022) to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink channel, DL, when transmitting device-related information (205, 209) to a wireless device (1042) or a group of wireless devices (1043, 1044), comprising, the method: determine (202) one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit the device related information on the common DL channel to the wireless device or group of wireless devices, further characterized by the transport block format (s) requiring a number of repeated transmissions of the device-related information on the common DL channel to meet a coverage class of the wireless device or a common coverage class for the group of wireless devices. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmit (204) a message (207, 211) that includes the device-related information to the wireless device or the group of wireless devices using one of the one or more transport block formats. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of transport block formats are determined, which are to be used to transmit the device related information, on the common DL channel, to the group of wireless devices, and the method further comprises: identify (206) common information (213) included in the information related to the device applicable to the group of wireless devices, and transmit (208) a message (215) that includes the information common to the group of wireless devices using a format among the plurality of transport block formats that the group of wireless devices can decode; and identify (210) device-specific information (217a, 217b) included in the device-related information applicable to each individual wireless device in the group of wireless devices, and transmit (212) individual messages (219a, 219b), including the information device-specific, to respective individual wireless devices using more than one format among the plurality of transport block formats that are applicable to respective individual wireless devices. The method of claim 3, wherein one of the plurality of transport block formats used to transmit the message that includes the information common to the group of wireless devices is the same as at least one of the more of one of the plurality of transport block formats used to transmit the individual messages, including the device-specific information, to the respective individual wireless devices. The method of claim 3, wherein prior to transmitting the message, which includes the common information, and the individual messages, which include the device-specific information, the method further comprises: adding (214) information (221) in the message that includes the common information, and, in each of the individual messages, that includes the device-specific information, where the added information allows each of the individual wireless devices to uniquely identify the message, including the information common to the respective individual, including device-specific information. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determine the coverage class to be used by the wireless device based on estimating the number of repeated blind transmissions to satisfy a target, BLER, block error rate, and considering a number of auto-repeat request retransmissions hybrid, HARQ, which, on average, results from the use of the target BLER. The method of claim 1, wherein the coverage class of the wireless device or the common coverage class for the group of wireless devices determines the amount of repeated transmissions of the device-related information on the common DL channel. . The method of claim 1, wherein the coverage class of the wireless device is a measure of a current radio environment of the wireless device, and wherein the common coverage class for the group of wireless devices is a measure of a current wireless device group radio environment. 9. A wireless access node (102i, 1022) configured to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink channel, DL, when transmitting device-related information (205, 209) to a wireless device (1042) or a group of wireless devices (1043, 1044), the wireless access node comprising: a processor (1321, 1322), and a memory (1341, 1342) that stores instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor interacts with memory to execute the instructions executable by the processor, whereby the wireless access node can be operated to determine (202) one or more transport block formats to be used to transmit the information related to the device, on the common DL channel, the wireless device or the group of wireless devices; further characterized by the transport block format (s) requiring a number of repeated transmissions of the device-related information on the common DL channel to meet a coverage class of the wireless device or a common coverage class for the group of wireless devices. The wireless access node of claim 9, wherein the wireless access node can be further operated to carry out the method of any of claims 2 to 8. 11. A method (400) performed by a wireless device (1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n) to improve the efficiency of bandwidth utilization on a common downlink channel, DL, when receiving information ( 205, 209) related to the device from a wireless access node (1021, 1022), comprising the method: receive (402) one or more messages (207, 211, 215, 219a, 219b), including device-related information on the common DL channel, from the wireless access node, further characterized in that the message (s) are received a repeating number of times on the common DL channel as required by one or more transport block formats defined to meet a coverage class of the wireless device. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving (402a) the device-related information (205, 209) included in one (207, 211) of the one or more messages having one of the one or more transport block formats. The method of claim 11, wherein a plurality of messages including the device-related information are received, wherein the plurality of messages has a plurality of transport block formats, wherein the information ( 209) related to the device includes (1) common information (213) applicable to the wireless device and one or more other wireless device (s), and (2) device-specific information (217a, 217b) applicable to the wireless device, and the method comprises further: receiving (402b) the common information included in a message (215) from the plurality of messages having one of the plurality of transport block formats; and receiving (402c) the device-specific information included in another message (219a, 219b) from among the plurality of messages having one of the plurality of transport block formats. The method of claim 13, wherein the format of the plurality of transport block formats used to transmit a message of the plurality of messages including the common information is the same as that of the plurality of formats transport block used to transmit the message of the plurality of messages that includes the device-specific information. The method of claim 11, further comprising: identify (402d) information (221) in the message from among the plurality of messages that includes the common information and the message from among the plurality of messages that includes the device-specific information, wherein the identified information uniquely identifies the message from the plurality of messages including the common information corresponding to the message from the plurality of messages including the device-specific information. The method of claim 11, wherein the coverage class of the wireless device determines a number of repeat transmissions of the device-related information on the common DL channel. The method of claim 11, wherein the coverage class of the wireless device is a measure of a current radio environment of the wireless device. 18. A wireless device (1041, 1042, 1043, 1044 ... 104n) configured to improve bandwidth utilization efficiency on a common downlink channel, DL, by receiving information (205, 209) related to the device from a wireless access node (1021, 1022), the wireless device comprising: a processor (1181, 1182, 1183, 1184 ... 118n), and a memory (1201, 1202, 1203, 1204 ... 120n) that stores instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor interacts with memory to execute the instructions executable by the processor, whereby the wireless device can be operated to receive (402) one or more messages (207, 211, 215, 219a, 219b), including / n the information related to the device, on the common DL channel, from the wireless access node, characterized in that the wireless device can be further operated to receive the message (s) a repeated number of times on the common DL channel according to as required by one or more defined transport block formats to meet a coverage class of the wireless device. 19. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the wireless device can be further operated to carry out the method of any of claims 12 to 17.